Jaden Micah Joannes

It is hard to know where to put the sky in the morning

Where or how the sun should go to its resting blue

And the moon

where should it be

when a world is upside down

I keep thinking about you taking your first breath

your curls bouncing like a glorious lotus making monsoons under water

As you swam past midwives; your mother’s hands scooping you up

Who knew you would grow to be a philosophical thinker?

A Rainier Scholar. A fearless child. A loving friend. A caring brother, cousin, nephew, son and grandson. A jokester.

That your laugh would wrinkle through the air and people around you would catch it in their chests and laugh too

I still remember you Raven and Del running past the kitchen in tighty whities

helmets or toy swords in hand

Katie holding you all this time

This life is a mystery

You being gone is a mystery

Where did the time go and how did it move so fast?

Upon your arrival into this other life

I hope you found that buck

And looked into his eyes again that his fierceness gave you strength

Of mind body and spirit

That you got to go back to the water

And watch the ocean live

Because I believe your heart deserved that

I hope you get to be the ocean

To stare into the eyes of a creature who

loved you

The enormous sea of people who loved you

During a buck’s life, it will shed its mighty crown of antlers

only to grow them larger and stronger than they were before

-Chelsey Richardson, 2021

Jaden Joannes was a tender-hearted young man, full to the brim of love and empathy for his family and friends. He was a good listener, a social justice warrior and a hilariously fun, quick-witted kid! Jaden was born in Kirkland, WA in March 2002 to a loving mother surrounded by women; a midwife, her assistants and her twin baby girls holding space for this Pisces boy to make his watery entrance.

Jaden made friends easily and felt things deeply. As a 1st grader, he rescued an earthworm from drowning when a classmate moved it from the terrarium to the aquarium. Jaden fished the little creature out and performed mouth to mouth resuscitation. This value for living things never left him.

He always stood up for the underdog and often put his friend’s needs before his own. Jaden had his struggles as a teen and became a valued part of the Recovery High School community in Seattle.

On June 28th, 2021 after nearly 10 solid weeks of sobriety, Jaden experienced a destabilizing morning and accidently overdosed on fentanyl. He was just 19 years old. Jaden had recently journaled of his hopes and aspirations for the future and of his encounter with a large buck in the forest as a sign from his higher power to keep doing his best. He was dearly loved by a broad community. This mistake does not define him, rather his kind heart and passion for social justice, his deep friendships, his infectious laugh and his connection to community are what we remember.

A memorial service was held in Jaden’s honor in July 2021 and attended by over 200 family and friends who remember him daily, even now. Jaden’s mother, Katie Joannes, chose aquamation as a means to return him to a place he always felt truly happy, in the water. It brings her bittersweet joy to think of him as always close by, in lakes, rivers and the sea. We love you so much Jaden!

In 2025, Jaden’s Community Support Fund was founded by his mother, sister and friends to give back in honor of Jaden’s big, welcoming heart that couldn’t stand for anyone to be left behind.